A boy plays a game of Space Invaders during the opening of the "Game On" exhibition
© AFP Adrian Dennis

LONDON (AFP) - "It's very rare to be able to have the whole of an industry on display, from the early conception to the latest product," said Heather Mayfield, deputy head of the Science Museum.

The exhibition, which runs to February 25 and is entitled "Game On", will showcase Wii, Nintendo's new, seventh-generation video game console, to be launched on November 19 in the United States and December 8 in Europe.

David Yarnton, the general manager of Nintendo UK, told AFP: "It will come to the exhibition, but not before early November."

Visitors working their way around the 13 rooms can turn back time by getting their hands on "Spacewar!", one of the earliest video games for a digital computer, created in 1962 by Steve Russell at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

School children play arcade games during the opening of the "Game On" exhibition
© AFP Adrian Dennis

Arcade games line the walls. Among them is the 1971 game "Computer Space", generally accepted as the world's first commercially-sold, coin-operated video game, and "Pong", a basic version of table tennis and often considered as the world's first arcade game, which was launched in 1972.

Visitors can try older two-dimension platform games, often in black and white with simple computer music, such as "Space Invaders", "Pac-Man" and "Donkey Kong", which progressively gave way to "Mario Bros.", "Zelda" and more recently "Pokemon" -- more technical colour games packed with fast-moving action.

Simulation games are also represented. "SimCity", released in 1993, went through three reincarnations before becoming "The Sims" in 2000.

Football games from the 1990s pale in comparison with the technology on show in the games released for the 2006 World Cup.

The exhibition also dedicates rooms to hand-held consoles, from early versions with liquid crystal displays and tinny music, which evolved into modern consoles with three-dimensional colour games.

Some video games have gone on to become films, such as "Mario Bros." and "Tomb Raider".

Game On has already been successfully exhibited in several countries, including the United States, Sweden and Israel.

©AFP